I was summoned to WJR on June 8th for a meeting with Mendle and Herbert Studstill, two of the gentlemen that run the foundation, so that Mitch could introduce me and they could vet me. The meeting went well. I'm not entirely sure I won over Mr. Studstill, but I think I at least reassured him that I wasn't some delusional housewife who got a bug up her but to fly off into a third world to do some mission work.
After that, the flight confirmation came and all that was left to do was pack.
Needless to say, but I didn't sleep a wink the night before I flew out. The flight departed at 7:15 from Metro so I arrived at the terminal at 5am. Good thing, too. The line for security went almost out the door! I got to the gate and waited. Mitch arrived with Chad Audi, the COO of Say Detroit, at nearly the last minute. When my section finally got to board I stopped by their seats to say good morning. Luckily I got a window seat. Off we go!
I was lucky enough to sit in a row with a woman headed to the Bahamas and a young girl also going to the Bahamas. We had much to talk about. The woman next to me was gracious enough to give me her purse size tube of sunscreen as I relate to her how security took mine away, as they consider spray cans as liquids! Have you seen my pasty white veneer? This was not the best moment of my life! TSA confiscated 2 bottles of sunscreen and one of bug spray. They let me keep one bottle of bug spray since it was a combo sunscreen/bug spray. A 3 day trip to one of the hottest tropical islands in the Caribbean with only 4 oz of bug spray/sunscreen! ugh!
We landed in Miami and had a 2 hour layover. Mitch advised Chad and I to purchase sandwiches in the airport as we were warned that we shouldn't eat the food prepared at the mission. Yeah! Great! I only carried a limited amount of cash with me as I didn't know what to expect as far as safety goes and Miami airport capitalizes on travelers last chance for fresh food before departing the country. Those sandwiches were $10 apiece! I only had enough money to get two and leave enough cash for the trip home! Good thing, like my Girl Scout training told me to do, I had packed a bunch of dry goods in the bottom of my suitcase! Note to self, next time bring more gummi bears!
We finally arrived in Haiti. The view from the flight was spectacular! Such beauty amongst such tragedy! We could really see the damage the earthquake did to the island as we approached the airport. After deplaning we were whisked thru security to buses and taken to customs and immigration. They don't seem overly concerned with the riff-raff they allow to enter their ports!
We were met by Alain, the day-time director. He ushered us thru the sea of Garcons as we headed out in the stifling heat. Only 2pm and it was unbelievable how bright the sun is that close to the equator! Haiti lies between the 18th and 20th parallel (think Myanmar, Thailand, Luzon in the Philippines) as well as the 71st and 75th meridians (think, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, approx equal to the Boston Harbor and Straights of Magellan.)We found a shady spot to stand in while Alain went to get the van. All along the fence as we walked to the parking area we were treated to the calls of hungry children and teens. It's heartbreaking!
The ride to the mission was a real lesson in poverty. The streets of Port Au Prince are all still in great disrepair. Huge, gaping holes remain unfilled as drivers perilously swerve to avoid them. Meanwhile giant piles of ruble sit just feet away. I wondered out loud why the citizens don't just push some of the ruble into the holes, if not to repair the roads, to at least make them less severely treacherous? The answer is the same reason the people are still in such desperate situations, it would never occur to them to do that.
The mission is not far from the airport. I was so anxious to meet the kids! Before the van was even stopped the little ones were surrounding us. They rushed to Mitch, hugging and tugging. I was overcome by gladness at what I was seeing! And then they turned there attention to me. As they pulled and tugged and hugged and introduces themselves I tried desperately to glean discerning characteristics. I wanted to make a good impression and try to remember their names the best I could. We were finally able to make it thru the flurry of love and welcome and set our bags down. Chad and I were given a quick tour as families had been waiting for days to get a meeting with Mitch. Once we had seen the main areas we were left to our own devices to check out the rest of it. I let the children show me their favorite places.
As the afternoon went on, I was asked to sit in on a few of the family interviews to get a feel for the circumstances that led many of these children to become residents. What started out as 18 kids under age 10 soon swelled to 24 before we left on Monday.
Mitch asked me to help the young lady responsible for dinner. That was an adventure in and of itself. Her name is Natalie and she is 18. She is responsible for cooking on Saturdays. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. No small chore when there are 50 mouths to feed. Soon Natalie had me mincing garlic and green onions in a wooden mortar and pestle. She laughed because I was not grinding hard enough. I laughed because if she knew how limited my kitchen skills were it wouldn't astonish her at all to know I barely can operate a food processor/electric chopper, much less to do it by hand!
Once we had the seasonings prepared for spaghetti, she had me help bring water in from the cistern. This involves hanging precariously over the mouth of the well and dipping a bucket in, then slopping it back up the sloping yard over uneven concrete that not only showed signs of upheaval from the earthquake, but probably hadn't been properly poured to begin with. Good thing I was wearing tennis shoes and not flip-flops like the rest of the kids! I surely would have killed myself!
Then the big surprise came out. Natalie handed me a knife that can only be described as a close cousin to a machete. She then handed me the tiniest vegetables and asked me to chop them. Hardy har har! Boy did she look at me like I was the most domestically challenged person in the world! I did my best. I kept all my fingers intact! Meanwhile we had some great conversations about growing up in the mission, chores, missing families. I told her my story and how I lost my mother at a young age. This went quite a ways toward forgiving me for my lack of kitchen skills.
Then Natalie did something that will for the rest of our relationship cause me to pause before ever making an enemy of her. She pulled out three cans of tomato sauce and used the very large kitchen knife to crack open the cans and peel back the tops. I now understand why the knife edge is dull but also have great respect for how these kids adapt and overcome their limited resources.
On my list of belongings to move with me: kitchen knives!
So the spaghetti sauce is made from a minced beef, chopped carrots, rice, tomato sauce, sauteed garlic and onions, and mixed veggies. Natalie also added some local herbs that I didn't catch the description of because I am very limited in my Creole.
Samples were doled out and the consensus is that I made a very good sauce. I gained the respect of the older girls while being able to see first hand the food prep process. There are many changes that will need to be made. But this first foray was more about bonding with the girls.
That night I got to be a part of the shower process. Imagine stripping down 24 little ones and running them through the showers and getting them into pajamas. Not an easy task. Once they were all in pjs we assembled in the common area of the dormitory for devotional time. They sang hymns, bible songs, and read from the Good Book. Then they were introduced to Chad and I and each of them said prayers of thanksgiving for their visitors as well as their benefactors in Detroit. We got the little ones tucked in and then headed over to the staff quarters for a little bit to eat and to discuss the first experiences.
Once we had sleeping arrangements settled, I headed off to my room and had a shower (which I shared momentarily with a 4 inch cockroach) and then off to my air mattress in the kitchen, because in their infinite wisdom, those that came before me put the A/C in the kitchen instead of in the bedroom! So needless to say, I slept with the light on. I figured if things were going to crawl on me, it would be better to be able to see where they were going. No mystery guests for me, thank you very much! This also meant that every little hair that blew or every time my pajama bottoms got blown from the fan I would sit bolt upright with visions of bugs and lizards all over me!
The A/C managed to get the temp down to 85 by the time I became mildly unconscious. It got almost down to 79 by 4:30 am and then the sun came out at 5 and the temp slowly went back up. Time to get up anyways. The staff are up by 5, the kids shortly after that.
Stay tuned for Day 2
After that, the flight confirmation came and all that was left to do was pack.
Needless to say, but I didn't sleep a wink the night before I flew out. The flight departed at 7:15 from Metro so I arrived at the terminal at 5am. Good thing, too. The line for security went almost out the door! I got to the gate and waited. Mitch arrived with Chad Audi, the COO of Say Detroit, at nearly the last minute. When my section finally got to board I stopped by their seats to say good morning. Luckily I got a window seat. Off we go!
I was lucky enough to sit in a row with a woman headed to the Bahamas and a young girl also going to the Bahamas. We had much to talk about. The woman next to me was gracious enough to give me her purse size tube of sunscreen as I relate to her how security took mine away, as they consider spray cans as liquids! Have you seen my pasty white veneer? This was not the best moment of my life! TSA confiscated 2 bottles of sunscreen and one of bug spray. They let me keep one bottle of bug spray since it was a combo sunscreen/bug spray. A 3 day trip to one of the hottest tropical islands in the Caribbean with only 4 oz of bug spray/sunscreen! ugh!
We landed in Miami and had a 2 hour layover. Mitch advised Chad and I to purchase sandwiches in the airport as we were warned that we shouldn't eat the food prepared at the mission. Yeah! Great! I only carried a limited amount of cash with me as I didn't know what to expect as far as safety goes and Miami airport capitalizes on travelers last chance for fresh food before departing the country. Those sandwiches were $10 apiece! I only had enough money to get two and leave enough cash for the trip home! Good thing, like my Girl Scout training told me to do, I had packed a bunch of dry goods in the bottom of my suitcase! Note to self, next time bring more gummi bears!
We finally arrived in Haiti. The view from the flight was spectacular! Such beauty amongst such tragedy! We could really see the damage the earthquake did to the island as we approached the airport. After deplaning we were whisked thru security to buses and taken to customs and immigration. They don't seem overly concerned with the riff-raff they allow to enter their ports!
We were met by Alain, the day-time director. He ushered us thru the sea of Garcons as we headed out in the stifling heat. Only 2pm and it was unbelievable how bright the sun is that close to the equator! Haiti lies between the 18th and 20th parallel (think Myanmar, Thailand, Luzon in the Philippines) as well as the 71st and 75th meridians (think, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, approx equal to the Boston Harbor and Straights of Magellan.)We found a shady spot to stand in while Alain went to get the van. All along the fence as we walked to the parking area we were treated to the calls of hungry children and teens. It's heartbreaking!
The ride to the mission was a real lesson in poverty. The streets of Port Au Prince are all still in great disrepair. Huge, gaping holes remain unfilled as drivers perilously swerve to avoid them. Meanwhile giant piles of ruble sit just feet away. I wondered out loud why the citizens don't just push some of the ruble into the holes, if not to repair the roads, to at least make them less severely treacherous? The answer is the same reason the people are still in such desperate situations, it would never occur to them to do that.
The mission is not far from the airport. I was so anxious to meet the kids! Before the van was even stopped the little ones were surrounding us. They rushed to Mitch, hugging and tugging. I was overcome by gladness at what I was seeing! And then they turned there attention to me. As they pulled and tugged and hugged and introduces themselves I tried desperately to glean discerning characteristics. I wanted to make a good impression and try to remember their names the best I could. We were finally able to make it thru the flurry of love and welcome and set our bags down. Chad and I were given a quick tour as families had been waiting for days to get a meeting with Mitch. Once we had seen the main areas we were left to our own devices to check out the rest of it. I let the children show me their favorite places.
As the afternoon went on, I was asked to sit in on a few of the family interviews to get a feel for the circumstances that led many of these children to become residents. What started out as 18 kids under age 10 soon swelled to 24 before we left on Monday.
Mitch asked me to help the young lady responsible for dinner. That was an adventure in and of itself. Her name is Natalie and she is 18. She is responsible for cooking on Saturdays. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. No small chore when there are 50 mouths to feed. Soon Natalie had me mincing garlic and green onions in a wooden mortar and pestle. She laughed because I was not grinding hard enough. I laughed because if she knew how limited my kitchen skills were it wouldn't astonish her at all to know I barely can operate a food processor/electric chopper, much less to do it by hand!
Once we had the seasonings prepared for spaghetti, she had me help bring water in from the cistern. This involves hanging precariously over the mouth of the well and dipping a bucket in, then slopping it back up the sloping yard over uneven concrete that not only showed signs of upheaval from the earthquake, but probably hadn't been properly poured to begin with. Good thing I was wearing tennis shoes and not flip-flops like the rest of the kids! I surely would have killed myself!
Then the big surprise came out. Natalie handed me a knife that can only be described as a close cousin to a machete. She then handed me the tiniest vegetables and asked me to chop them. Hardy har har! Boy did she look at me like I was the most domestically challenged person in the world! I did my best. I kept all my fingers intact! Meanwhile we had some great conversations about growing up in the mission, chores, missing families. I told her my story and how I lost my mother at a young age. This went quite a ways toward forgiving me for my lack of kitchen skills.
Then Natalie did something that will for the rest of our relationship cause me to pause before ever making an enemy of her. She pulled out three cans of tomato sauce and used the very large kitchen knife to crack open the cans and peel back the tops. I now understand why the knife edge is dull but also have great respect for how these kids adapt and overcome their limited resources.
On my list of belongings to move with me: kitchen knives!
So the spaghetti sauce is made from a minced beef, chopped carrots, rice, tomato sauce, sauteed garlic and onions, and mixed veggies. Natalie also added some local herbs that I didn't catch the description of because I am very limited in my Creole.
Samples were doled out and the consensus is that I made a very good sauce. I gained the respect of the older girls while being able to see first hand the food prep process. There are many changes that will need to be made. But this first foray was more about bonding with the girls.
That night I got to be a part of the shower process. Imagine stripping down 24 little ones and running them through the showers and getting them into pajamas. Not an easy task. Once they were all in pjs we assembled in the common area of the dormitory for devotional time. They sang hymns, bible songs, and read from the Good Book. Then they were introduced to Chad and I and each of them said prayers of thanksgiving for their visitors as well as their benefactors in Detroit. We got the little ones tucked in and then headed over to the staff quarters for a little bit to eat and to discuss the first experiences.
Once we had sleeping arrangements settled, I headed off to my room and had a shower (which I shared momentarily with a 4 inch cockroach) and then off to my air mattress in the kitchen, because in their infinite wisdom, those that came before me put the A/C in the kitchen instead of in the bedroom! So needless to say, I slept with the light on. I figured if things were going to crawl on me, it would be better to be able to see where they were going. No mystery guests for me, thank you very much! This also meant that every little hair that blew or every time my pajama bottoms got blown from the fan I would sit bolt upright with visions of bugs and lizards all over me!
The A/C managed to get the temp down to 85 by the time I became mildly unconscious. It got almost down to 79 by 4:30 am and then the sun came out at 5 and the temp slowly went back up. Time to get up anyways. The staff are up by 5, the kids shortly after that.
Stay tuned for Day 2
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